The Cast of Beatlemania | |
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Background information | |
Origin | New England, United States |
Occupation | Beatles Tribute Band |
Years active | 1980–present |
Members | Carlo Cantamessa Lenie Colacino John Delgado Larry Hochman Monroe Quinn |
Past members | Mitch Weissman, Leslie Fradkin, Joe Pecorino, Louis Colucci, Jimmy Pou, Tom Teeley, Bob Miller, Alan LeBoeuf, Marty Feier, P.M. Howard, Jim Filgate and Mark Templeton. |
Website | Moptops.com |
The Cast of Beatlemania is a U.S. Beatles' tribute band formed in 1980. The Cast is one of longest running Beatles' tribute band in the world. The group features founder Lenie Colacino, a former cast member of the 1977 Broadway hit musical Beatlemania . The group has performed in all contiguous U.S. states, and over twenty foreign countries, including Canada, England, Mexico, Central and South America, Brazil and Japan.
The Cast recreates the sights and sounds of The Beatles from an era of the 1960s when the world was engulfed in the throes of Beatlemania. Three different costumes coincide with the changing music and times during their existence.
The Cast was individually selected from hundreds of musicians who auditioned from all over the U.S. for the Broadway show, Beatlemania.
The Cast originally started when the members of the ending Broadway show were let go as the show came to a conclusion in late 1979. Those four members (Lenie Colacino, Richie Gomez, Mike Palaikis and Bob Forte) started The Cast and the same group name has been in existence since the early 1980s.
This current incarnation of the show is the most popular version since inception, having retained the same members for the longest period of time.
The concept of Beatlemania was to put four people up on stage that look, act and sound like The Beatles; people that could actually play The Beatles music in such a way that you would think you’re watching The Beatles but in a very small time span of two hours, you would get the entire era of The Beatles from 1964-1969. The Cast of Beatlemania originated out of the Broadway show Beatlemania, but we took it one step further where we try to look, act and sound like The Beatles as you remember them, but the sound is the album. The Broadway show had the video that ran behind you, you had slides that ran and it was only these songs, you did this and you said that and you were here at a certain time. We don’t do that; we have a whole interaction with the crowd and we interact with each other, but when it comes to the actual music, I want you to sit there and feel as if you’re hearing the record live… We want people to go, 'Wow, those guys were great and the music was spot on.' ... Night after night it sounds exactly like the record but it’s a live format.
The current members are:
Carlo Cantamessa (as John Lennon) — rhythm guitar, bass guitar, piano, lead vocal
Lenie Colacino (as Paul McCartney) — bass guitar, piano, lead vocal
Monroe Quinn (as George Harrison) — lead guitar, lead vocal
John Delgado (as Ringo Starr) — drums, percussion, lead vocal
Larry Hochman — keyboards, musical director, arranger
The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the development of 1960s counterculture and the recognition of popular music as an art form. Rooted in skiffle, beat, and 1950s rock 'n' roll, their sound incorporated elements of classical music and traditional pop in innovative ways. The band also explored music styles ranging from folk and Indian music to psychedelia and hard rock. As pioneers in recording, songwriting, and artistic presentation, the Beatles revolutionized many aspects of the music industry and were often publicized as leaders of the era's youth and sociocultural movements.
Please Please Me is the debut studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Produced by George Martin, it was released in the UK on EMI's Parlophone label on 22 March 1963. The album is 14 songs in length, and contains a mixture of cover songs and original material written by the partnership of band members John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
With the Beatles is the second studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released in the United Kingdom on 22 November 1963 on Parlophone, eight months after the release of the band's debut album, Please Please Me. Produced by George Martin, the album features eight original compositions and six covers. The sessions also yielded the non-album single, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" backed by "This Boy". The cover photograph was taken by the fashion photographer Robert Freeman and has since been mimicked by several music groups. A different cover was used for the Australian release of the album, which the Beatles were displeased with.
Beatles for Sale is the fourth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released on 4 December 1964 in the United Kingdom on EMI's Parlophone label. The album marked a departure from the upbeat tone that had characterised the Beatles' previous work, partly due to the band's exhaustion after a series of tours that had established them as a worldwide phenomenon in 1964. Beatles for Sale was not widely available in the US until 1987, when the Beatles' catalogue was standardised for release on CD. Instead, eight of the album's fourteen tracks appeared on Capitol Records' concurrent release, Beatles '65, issued in North America only.
The Rascals are an American rock band, formed in Garfield, New Jersey, United States, in 1965.
The Four Seasons is an American vocal quartet formed in 1960 in Newark, New Jersey. Since 1970, they have also been known at times as Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.
Beatlemania was the fanaticism surrounding the English rock band the Beatles from 1963 to 1966. The group's popularity grew in the United Kingdom in late 1963, propelled by the singles "Please Please Me", "From Me to You" and "She Loves You". By October, the British press adopted the term "Beatlemania" to describe the scenes of adulation that attended the band's concert performances. By 22 February 1964, the Beatles held both the number one and number two spots on the Billboard Hot 100, with "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "She Loves You", respectively. Their world tours were characterised by the same levels of hysteria and high-pitched screaming by female fans, both at concerts and during the group's travels between venues. Commentators likened the intensity of this adulation to a religious fervour and to a female masturbation fantasy. Among the displays of deity-like worship, fans would approach the band in the belief that they possessed supernatural healing powers.
"From Me to You" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released in April 1963 as their third single. It was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. The song was the Beatles' first number 1 hit on what became the official UK singles chart but the second, after "Please Please Me", on most of the other singles charts published in the UK at the time. "From Me to You" failed to make an impact in the United States at the time of its initial release. Instead, a 1963 cover version released by Del Shannon resulted in the song's becoming the first Lennon–McCartney track to enter the US pop charts. The Beatles' original was re-released in the US in January 1964 as the B-side to "Please Please Me", and reached number 41.
Beatlemania was a Broadway musical revue focused on the music of the Beatles as it related to the events and changing attitudes of the tumultuous 1960s. A "rockumentary," advertised as "Not the Beatles, but an incredible simulation," it ran from May 1977 to October 1979 for a total of 1,006 performances.
"Please Please Me" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. It was their second single in the United Kingdom, and their first in the United States. It is also the title track of their first LP, which was recorded to capitalise on the success of the single. It is a John Lennon composition, although its ultimate form was significantly influenced by producer George Martin.
"There's a Place" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their debut album, Please Please Me, released in March 1963. It was written primarily by John Lennon and credited to McCartney–Lennon. In the United States, the song was released in July 1963 on the group's first US LP, Introducing... The Beatles, later reissued in January 1964 as Beatlemania surged there. It was also issued as a non-album single in the US, in March 1964, as the B-side to "Twist and Shout", reaching number 74 in the Billboard Hot 100.
1964 the Tribute is a US Beatles tribute band formed in 1984. The group focuses on early Beatles music from the 1964 "British invasion" era when the band first toured in the US.
The Beatles Anthology is a documentary television series on the career of the Beatles. It was broadcast on UK television in six parts on ITV between 26 November and 31 December 1995, while in the United States it was seen as three feature-length episodes on ABC between 19 and 23 November 1995. It was released in greatly expanded form as an eight-volume VHS set and an eight-disc LaserDisc set on 5 September 1996. The series was re-released on DVD in 2003, with an 81-minute special-features disc.
Les Fradkin is an American MIDI guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter, composer, and record producer. He is best known for being a member of the original cast of the hit Broadway show Beatlemania. In addition to playing MIDI guitar, he plays 12 string guitar, the Starr Labs Ztar, guitar synthesizer, SynthAxe, Hammond organ, Mellotron, piano, bass guitar, and Moog synthesizer.
The Fab Four is a California tribute band paying homage to the Beatles. Founded in 1997 by Ronald Mendonça, a John Lennon impersonator, the group began performing Beatles music throughout southern California. They have played in many places worldwide, including Japan, Malaysia, France, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Mexico and Brazil, covering nearly the entire Beatles songbook and material from Beatles members' solo projects.
"I Can't Take It" is a song by the American rock band Cheap Trick, which was released in 1983 as the second single from their seventh studio album Next Position Please. The song was written by Robin Zander and produced by Todd Rundgren.
Shampoo were an Italian tribute/parody band from Naples, who enjoyed a short period of popularity in the early 1980s as spoofers of the Beatles.
The Shags were a garage rock band from West Haven, Connecticut, who were active in the mid-1960s, and recorded a number of songs, some at the Trod Nossel Studios. They were one of a number of bands at the time to use the moniker, "the Shags," but they were the best-known of these groups. Their work has been re-issued on various compilations, and they are known for the songs such as "Don't Press Your Luck" and "Breathe in My Ear." They re-united on several occasions in the 1980s and 1990s.
The Beatles made several appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, including three in February 1964 that were among their first appearances in front of an American audience. Their first appearance, on February 9, was seen by over 73 million viewers and came to be regarded as a cultural watershed that launched American Beatlemania—as well as the wider British Invasion of American pop music—and inspired many young viewers to become rock musicians. The band also made another appearance during their 1965 U.S. tour.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the Wikipedia articles available about the Beatles from their formation through their break-up; it does not include information about members' solo careers.